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From Ancient Greece to the modern Charismatic Movement, from the Apostle Paul to twenty-first century politics and Pentecostalism -- Two excellent books are available at our own State Library on the history of charisma: John Potts' A history of charisma and Philip Rieff's Charisma.Rieff's book came first: Apparently quite an original work and three decades in the making, Charisma has the telling subtitle, "the gift of grace, and how it has been taken away from us." Rieff traces the evolution of charisma as a
theological concept to it's transformation into a political force within modern culture.

Pott's book followed only two years later, and seems to be a completely parallel work. He specifically tracks the history of the word
'charisma' from the first century right through to the twenty-first century. The Apostle Paul first borrowed the word from Greco-Roman culture to coin a brand new term 'charismata' in his effort to re-frame first Christian thought about their various abilities, particularly those of the Corinthians. But the word has had various meanings assigned to it since then, leaving behind its original use in Christian theology, evolving into its brand new manifestation within current politics and culture. However interestingly, Pott shows that its current use by modern Charismatics, who claimed the term as their own, shows significant disparity with Paul's own thought and emphasis. Nonetheless elements of it's original meaning do continue within the contemporary secular understanding, but just fragments.

I found Pott's work particularly easy to read and quite exciting. He is insightful both for understanding the place and influence of charisma within our culture, but also for his helpful analysis of Pentecostalism and the development of the Charismatic Movement. This read is great for unravelling the distinction between modern developments in belief about spirituality and spiritual gifts, and the original New Testament teaching and emphasis of the Apostle Paul.

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Potts, John. A history of charisma. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Rieff, Philip. Charisma: the gift of grace, and how it has been taken away from us, 1st ed, New York : Pantheon Books, 2007.

Although Talking Pentecostalism is a site predominantly about Pentecostalism, it’s about Christianity more broadly too. The Pentecostal religion will 'reshape Christianity in the twenty-first century’. The Pentecostal or Pentecostalist movement and charismatic movements have become the most vigorous and fastest-growing family of Christians in the world. Unlike traditional Christianity which centers on the events of Easter and the crucifixion of Jesus, Pentecostal beliefs focus on the events surrounding the day of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began then. Since 1980 the Pentecost movement has been the largest family of Protestants in the world, not including the charismatic Pentecostals in the traditional mainline churches. Since 1995 the Pentecostals and Charismatics have in global numbers become the second largest family of Christians in the world, after the Roman Catholicism. More recent figures have indicated that today there are well over half a billion Pentecostal and Charismatic believers worldwide. So the size and growth rate alone of the Pentecostal movement means that Pentecostalism will affect everybody in one way or another, whether directly or indirectly. But not only are numbers up, Pentecostal thinking is also increasingly widespread. This is a movement, not primarily interested in record statistics, but seeking a radical transformation of Christian thinking. Today's leading Pentecostals have acknowledged the goal of the Pentecostal movement as a universal transformation of the church, both theologically and practically. It is because the Pentecostal seeks to spread Pentecostalism beliefs that it is having such a dramatic reshaping of Christianity. At the heart of the movement is the story of Pentecost itself, and their story that goes with this of how understanding Pentecost can reshape, and in fact restore, true Christianity to the believer. Pentecostal history begins at the turn of the nineteenth century, however more recently in the 1970s the Neo Pentecostal movement (or New Pentecostalism) spread into mainline church denominations when Pentecostal worship began to have a profound influence on traditional Christian services, inspiring the Pentecostal charismatic movement, now referred to simply as the Charismatics. The history of Pentecostalism is vital in understanding Pentecostal doctrine. What is Pentecost? On the day of Pentecost, Jesus baptized his Church with the Holy Spirit. What is Pentecost about in the New Testament? Talking Pentecostalism answers this question and others like it in detail. What is Pentecostal? Pentecostals believe that recovery of the doctrine and experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit is comparable to the Reformation's recovery of the doctrine of justification by faith. The Pentecostal movement seeks to restore the experiential dimension of the Spirit's dynamic presence to the believer and collectively to a significant segment of the church. What is Pentecostalism about? Talking Pentecostalism answers this question in more than a little detail, and others like it. Christians need to understand Pentecostalism, not only because of an increasing number of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians in our midst, but also because the stated goal of the movement is an intentional change to traditional Christian thought. People need to understand Pentecostalism in order to be aware of its affect on their own Christianity, or to their view of Christianity. Coupled with understanding the Scriptures themselves, understanding Pentecostalism is the best way to ensure you are responding rightly to this new influence in Christian history. What is the Holy Spirit? How is the Holy Spirit involved in Christianity? Who is the Holy Spirit? Talking Pentecostalism answers these questions and more. We go into details not only about the Holy Spirit, what is Holy Spirit, who is Holy Spirit, but also how Pentecostalism has understood the answers to these questions and how this differs to traditional teaching on the subject down through history as well as more recent and wider evangelical thought.

Christian discussion on the Pentecostal movement, the history and origin of Pentecostalism, Pentecostal belief, charismatic theology, Pentecostals and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the day of Pentecost, baptism in the Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts of the Spirit, praise and worship, prosperity doctrine, divine healing, guidance, destiny and the voice of the Holy Spirit. An Evangelical critique of Pentecostalism - talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com by Joe Towns.